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Friday, 26 September 2014

Munnar, Kerala: Of mists, mountains and waters

We are typical North Indians. Very used to hot summers, less waters, spicy food and speaking Hindi-English-Punjabi-Bengali-Gujarati-Bihari-anything but the Southern State languages. It was my sister who
fell in love with a Malayali guy and married him. Did not even realize when in
this entire process did the whole family, of elders, my daughters and a quondam maturing couple (My husband & I) also fell
in love with a clan whose language sounded all-Greek, whose food was stark
opposite of what we’d been having back home and whose land is a green-misty
State full of rain, water and coastline. Love knows no boundaries. It just
beckons like hell. A Malayali family of a newly acquired relative’s wedding
called us back to Kerala and this time, we didn’t miss the chance to cover the
misty hills of Munnar apart from the Arabian sea shores. Ah Kerala! Wish you
were a stone’s throw away from our land.

This is a small piece
from the Munnar memoirs.

Set at an altitude
of 6000 ft in Idukki district of Kerala,
Munnar was the favored summer resort of the erstwhile British rulers in
the colonial days and is now known for unending expanse of tea plantations - pristine
valleys, water, Kannan Devan hills fully blossoming with exotic species of
flora and fauna in its wild sanctuaries and forest, aroma of spice scent and
mists that falls on your cheeks to rest in romance. Munnar, supposedly, has to
have all of it.

Beneath is a view of the
Haripad railway station from where we boarded a passenger train to the nearest
junction of Ernakulam from where we would get a taxi for the uphill climb. A strikingly clean
platform, quite unlike the Northern Indian railways where dealing with filth
and dirt have become a man’s daily habit.

We
began ascending the slope of Munnar at around four in the evening. While we
meandered through the narrow roads, mist fell down blocking the driver’s view
and the jungle around made creepy sounds fueling our appetite for
adventure. By eleven in the night we were almost there. At 5000 ft. above
the ground, near to our coy little resort, Aryanka, beside a huge waterfall.
The invisible dark misty mountains had almost possessed us in its beauty
by now.

Early in the morning, we started our escapade to the mystique of
tea plantations. You know why Munnar is so different from other hill stations? Because
it is not as much about the nature’s upbringing as about the sweat, labour and
toil put in by thousands of labourers over generations (since 1870s) who’d put
in their energy and soul in creation of tea estates. Munnar is but an
impeccable example of man and nature culminating into one another and making
lives of each other beautiful.

En route to topmost
point of Munnar, we spotted the Kundala lake, an idyllic place in Munnar
located Surrounded by rolling hills and valleys of dense forests, Kundala is
known for the Kundala Arch Dam or Sethuparvati Dam and Kundala Lake. This was
surreal! Like the one from some Hollywood movie shot. You've to see it to
believe it.

Further on the way
was the world famous Echo Point, behind a scenic lake bank. The children had a
gala time shouting their lungs out to hear the hills reverberate your sound
back to you.

"As a
child, I would sit and ponder,at the wooded
areas,

for their beauty relaxed me.

The sway of the branches and whistling of
the winds,

as if they were calling my name.…"

Mattupetty (the
Cattle Village) is a small town which has become a popular picnic spot among
tourists visiting Munnar. Mattupetty is located at an altitude of about 1700 m
above sea level, at a distance of 13 km from Munnar.

After a day's hard work, we were almost there. At the Top Station, situated
about 1700 m above sea level at about 41 km from town, on Munnar – Kodaikanal
road and perhaps at one of the most scenic points of getting a breathtaking view of
Munnar.

The place is bestowed full water, water and water all
aroundn and through the forests. Elephant Lake or Anayirangal, Sita Devi lake,
Attukal Waterfalls, Cheeyappara Waterfalls, Lakkam Waterfalls Pallivassal
waterfalls, Thommankuthu waterfalls are among the prominent
few.

Standing somewhere
tall in the vastness of plantation, underneath patches of torrential downpours are
some soulful ladies. They take me awestruck with their determination, hard work
and skill and I ask, “What’s it like to stand in rain for ten hours a day, work
like machines, look out for leeches and still keep singing?”

Owing to the conducive climate, resource and vegetation, the place is home to
variety of rare and endemic species of animals. One can get a glimpse of it at Rajamalai
National Park, Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary, located in the rain shadow vegetation
of Western Ghats and Thattekad Bird Sanctuary.

Finally, reached Pothamedu! Trekker’s
paradise! Standing in the middle of all shades of green colour, brushing the skin with feathers of cool air and bidding the day a goodbye, the feeling is something like this -